Well, speaking as a Patriots fan, I find this comforting. Would seem to indicate that last week's loss is perhaps more attributable to the Steelers' strengths than the Patriots' weaknesses. (though there are some problems)

Exciting times for us Steeler fans. It's been a long time we've had this good a QB back there. After having to endure guys like Stoudt, Brister, Malone, O'Donnell, and Stewart, you'd all understand why we are giddy.

Biggest surprise to me(aside from Ben) is the way our lines on both sides of the ball are just physically dominating their opponents. Add the fact that our backups have come in to key positions and played like starters, and you have a great recipe for winning.

our lines on both sides of the ball are just physically dominating their opponents.

THAT is why you're winning. Not Benny.

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I also like the excuses once again, lest people keep forgetting we're winning with starters out at KEY positions.

Not saying that at all. Just that the Pats lost all those guys DURING the game.

I'm not afraid. We'll talk come playoff time.

We're winning because our team is playing better than any other team. Our lines are dominating. Our rushing game is on, even with Staley gone. We have three premier receivers. We have great linebackers and our secondary is doing their job.

And to all the Ben nay sayers...watch a game. You can call out his stats all you want, but when you see him get hit by two rushing linebackers, shrug it off, roll to his left and throw away from his body deadly accurate to a receive 10 yards down the field for a first down on a 3rd and 8...you'll finally understand.

The Steelers don't need to have a quarterback throw for 300 yards and win. Two years ago Maddox was airing it out for 300 yards a game and they still lost because everything else was weak.

Ben is making the decisions and plays that he needs to in order to win the game...what more do you want?

Logged

Tune in to hear me spout nonsense about Fantasy Football every Thursday evening at 6:08.

our lines on both sides of the ball are just physically dominating their opponents.

THAT is why you're winning. Not Benny.

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I also like the excuses once again, lest people keep forgetting we're winning with starters out at KEY positions.

Not saying that at all. Just that the Pats lost all those guys DURING the game.

I'm not afraid. We'll talk come playoff time.

We wouldn't be winning with Maddox.

I've been watching football religiously since 1979, and I have not seen a rookie QB come in and play like Ben since Marino. If you can't see the impact he's made on their success, then you haven't really watched him play. Have you not witnessed the throws under pressure, or the throws across his body while on the run? His pocket presence is uncanny, and just can't be taught. Listen to the guys like Marino, Boomer, and Simms talk about his play, because they understand that position that much more than we ever will. He's the real deal, no doubt.

As for Hines Ward mocking dance... it is in response to T.O. mocking Ray Lewis last week. My understanding is that Ward and T.O. are fairly good friends and T.O. seemed to be laughing about it on the sidelines.

The fact of the matter is that winning while having injuries is what defines teams in todays NFL. Every team will have major injuries during the course of the season. The Steelers have had thier share of injuries and have played through them. Many thought the season was over when Maddox was sidelined but the team has battled through it. The simple truth is the Steelers defeated two formerly unbeaten teams in consecutive weeks.

There are fans of football and fans of specific football teams. As far as teams go Im a Lions fan. I guess Im a bit of a masochist, eh? I can still appreciate a good football team that Im not a fan of. I have enjoyed watching the Pats play and they are a good team. Even with the loss to the Steelers, they are a good team. Anyone who cant appreciate what the Steelers have done, doesnt appreciate football. You dis Rothlesberger because of less than stellar stats? Damn, Brady has made a living being less than stellar. The teams that win consistently win with results, not numbers. The Pats have proven that time and time again. So put away your home team tunnel vision and appreciate what the Steelers are as well as what theyve done. They are a good team that has beaten two undefeated teams in a row. Also since people are using injuries as excuses, answer me this: of these three teams, The Steelers, the Patriots and the Eagles, who has lost thier starting QB to injury? Do you think the Pats would survive losing Brady or the Eagles losing McNabb? The Lions have had many injuries but thats not why they are 4-4. The main reason (outside of really,really bad special teams play) is that they have no running game. Injuries are part of the reality of the NFL, good teams play thru them, but you cant win in the NFL without a running attack. Without diversity in the offense, teams can key on the passing game and totally disrupt your offense (watch a Lions game for examples of this) I would much rather have a balanced attack without gaudy numbers than a glitzy statistical QB and a .500 record any day.

Roethlisburger has been fantastic, and the team is playing great ball. Trying to denigrate their wins because of the Patriots injuries is silly. At least you admitted that they beat your Eagles. Destroyed and dominated those Eagles, that is. The Steelers are for real, as is their QB. He's steady under pressure, and I'd HAPPILY take him on my favorite team.

The simple truth is the Steelers defeated two formerly unbeaten teams in consecutive weeks.

That's why we all love Arkon.He speaks the simple truth.

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See Devil... you should have just graciously bowed down and taken your lumps. But nooooooooooooo..... you had to be snarky.

By the way, I am making you a sign for when I come visit.

It says:

27 -3

You can hang it up in the baby's room! From Uncle Poncho!

---------------------------

And admit it... you secretly have a crush on Big Ben. You're attracted to him physically, aren't you? C'mon... you can admit it. You putting him down is just your attempt at covering it up. [It's ok... we won't tell your wife.]

GO STEELERS !

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On a more serious note... Hey Trip: I told you we would be better off when Satan's spawn went down to injury a few weeks back! The secondary is actually playing pretty good now.

Also, did you see P.B.'s hot dog move that cost us 7 more points? And Cowher laughed it up with him!!!!!!!! That was unreal.

LD

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to the Steelers. THANK YOU for beating Philadelphia so I don't have to listen to nonstop interviews with the self-promoting egotistical T.O this week on ESPN and every other sports news outlet in the country.

THANK YOU for shutting Philadelphia down and not providing T.O any grandstanding opportunities to end up on the highlight reels this week. THANK YOU!

Arkon - Me too!!! Ever the pessimist when it comes to my football teams, I was already calling for P.B. to be benched and subsequently fired if the Eagles came back to win the game by 6 or less points.

I get a little absurd in the heat of the moment. I think I threw my hat at the tv, the dog, the window, the wall, the floor, the chair, stomped into the kitchen and threw it at the fridge, the stove, the other window, the table, and my annoying toaster.... all after he fumbled that ball.

{I throw my Steelers hat all over the house during games.} :oops:

However, since Satan's Spawn has been out, I have cut down on throwing my hat ALOT !!!!

Oh, and K.Bell is back baby!!!!!! It just keeps getting better for us Steeler Fans !!!!

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Oh, you guys who don't live in Philly should hear some of the fans that called into the local sports station this morning. Absolutely hysterical to listen to some of these guys. I swear to God, they would rather sacrifice their mothers to the demon of pain rather than give the Steelers credit for having ANYTHING to do with the Eagles getting beat.

LD

Logged

LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

You guys all fell into my little trap!!! Benny IS Brady (so far)! If he can keep it up, he'll be fine.

The Steelers ARE the best team in the NFL right now. I just like hearing all the Steelers fans say how great they are by drawing parallels to the Patriots when I listened to everyone brush the Pats aside, even after 2 Super Bowls. Because they didn't have anything flashy going on. Pats are one of the best teams in football history and the Steelers are playing just like them now.

Still wanna see what happens in the playoffs. Having the last 2 games at home had to help a bit. Besides, the last time the Pats went into Pittsburgh in the playoffs there was a stadium full of weeping fans and a bunch of guys in black uniforms who had to cancel their room reservations in N.O..

On a side note... if you listen to Myron Cope I read he was taken to the hospital at halftime... hopefully he is ok.

I looked at the Post Gazette website after I read what you wrote about Cope. Wow, I couldn't believe he's 75 years old!

I moved from Pittsburgh about 15 years ago and I miss hearing those announcers - I also liked Mike Lange with the Penguins.

Wishing the best for Myron Cope.

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By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Legendary Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope was taken to Presbyterian Hospital yesterday at halftime of the game with the Philadelphia Eagles for treatment of a head injury. Cope, in his 35th season as color analyst on the Steelers' radio network, was admitted and is expected to have a magnetic resonance imaging test today.

Cope was walking, but with assistance, as he left Heinz Field.

The extent of his injury, which occurred Saturday in a fall at his home, is not fully known.

Late in the first half of the game, Tunch Ilkin, part of the broadcasting crew that also includes play-by-play announcer Bill Hillgrove and sideline reporter Craig Wolfley, asked Cope if he was OK.

Cope, according to reports, was having trouble communicating during the broadcast.

One Steelers official, who was listening to the game on the radio, called Heinz Field to inquire about Cope's health.

According to people who saw him, Cope had a cut on the back of his head that was bleeding.

The injury had been tended to when Cope left Heinz Field.

Ilkin and Wolfley handled Cope's postgame locker room show.

Cope, 75, missed the team's first three exhibition games while recovering from throat surgery and pneumonia.

Before yesterday, Cope had missed only five quarters of Steelers football in his 34 years on the job.

He missed one quarter of a game early in his career to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law. He missed a game in 1994, when his wife, Mildred, died.

Even this Eagles fan who bleeds green has to give it up: great win by the Steelers. They manhandled the Eagles on both sides of the ball. Their offensive line made our d-line look offensive as it gave up 252 yards on the ground. Missed tackles by the Eagles all day, blown coverages, jumping offsides on a hard-count on 4th and 3 to give the Steelers a first down - you can't have a better recipe for defeat than that.

The Steelers D was strong, and the Eagles play calling and play making weak. All in all, a thorough thrashing.

BUT . . . I'm not even close to being ready to doubt the ability of this Eagles team. The offense is somewhat out of sink right now, and the defense needs to stop hemoraging yards on the ground, but I'm fairly certian Andy Reid will get this team righted and back on track.

Also: all the bullshit from the Fox commentators about Owens on the sidelines was just that . . . bullshit. He clearly wasn't in McNabb's face calling him out. It was apparent from their expressions and from the body language that TO was trying to pick McNabb up and give him some encouragement. And that's exactly what TO said after the game and what McNabb confirmed in his press conference.

The media and NFL need to be very careful. In their treatment/villification of TO, they are getting awfully close to turning the NFL into the WWF. Jim McMahon already tried that with the XFL, and we all saw what an utter disaster that was. People don't generally want that crap from the NFL - they want good football. It's annoying when the media focuses all its attention on a couple of players for positive reasons (Vick, McNabb at one point, now Big Ben). The overexposure gets realy dull, real fast. But what's worse, I think it's downright harmful to the league and the players when the media picks out an individual for microscope scrutiny and continual blasting. The glee with which Chris Collinsworth and his cronies suggested that Owens was up to his old tricks and blasting McNabb on the sidelines was uncalled for.

As a bag-wearing Cowboys fan of course I'm glad a division rival lost. I'm nigh indifferant to the Steelers. But seeing T.O. lose and yelling at McNabb on the sideline gave me a warm feeling inside. He's amazingly talented, yes, but he's also a punk.

BUT . . . I'm not even close to being ready to doubt the ability of this Eagles team. The offense is somewhat out of sink right now, and the defense needs to stop hemoraging yards on the ground, but I'm fairly certian Andy Reid will get this team righted and back on track.

Reid is a very, very good coach. The offense was on the schnide yesterday, but I don't think it will always be that bad.

However, the defense got exposed. It's been awful against the run all year long. They're tied for last in the league at 4.7 yards per carry against.

That's like having Barry Sanders run against you every game of the season. That's freaking awful.

They just haven't had an issue with it since they rang points up so fast that other teams basically couldn't run.

I think this spells troubles for the Eagles in the playoffs, again. Ball control, rushing attack could kill the Eagles. However, the good thing is; I don't see a Tampa Bay or Carolina of years past (solid defense, good rushing attack) in the NFC. All the frontrunners have serious flaws, usually involving defense (or lack thereof with Minnesota, Green Bay, etc).

A friend of mine said something sort've funny to me about TO. He said the deal is that TO is simply painfully stupid and hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut yet, whereas at least Jeremy Shockey, another absolute idiot, figured out he needed to shut-up.

The simple truth is the Steelers defeated two formerly unbeaten teams in consecutive weeks.

That's why we all love Arkon.He speaks the simple truth.

-------------------------

See Devil... you should have just graciously bowed down and taken your lumps. But nooooooooooooo..... you had to be snarky.

By the way, I am making you a sign for when I come visit.

It says:

27 -3

You can hang it up in the baby's room! From Uncle Poncho!

---------------------------

And admit it... you secretly have a crush on Big Ben. You're attracted to him physically, aren't you? C'mon... you can admit it. You putting him down is just your attempt at covering it up. [It's ok... we won't tell your wife.]

GO STEELERS !

-------------------------------

On a more serious note... Hey Trip: I told you we would be better off when Satan's spawn went down to injury a few weeks back! The secondary is actually playing pretty good now.

Also, did you see P.B.'s hot dog move that cost us 7 more points? And Cowher laughed it up with him!!!!!!!! That was unreal.

LD

If you would have told me before that Williams would be playing this good I would have laughed hysterically for awhile. It just goes to show how bad Scott really is, especially when an ancient DB can replace you and be far more effective. With Bell returning it only gets better on D.